Are European political firewalls beginning to show cracks? | ARTE Europe Weekly

In Germany, the long-standing political firewall has seen constitutional authorities classify the AfD party as “suspected right-wing extremist” and incompatible with liberal democratic values, where there is cross-party consensus on zero cooperation with the far right. But with more voters supporting the AfD, notably in former East German Länder, there are visible cracks in the firewall. Elsewhere on the continent, the so-called “cordon sanitaire” is being breached. Are European political firewalls beginning to show cracks? | ARTE Europe Weekly 📆 Available until 05/08/2026 ARTE.tv Documentary 📺 is ARTE.tv's YouTube channel in English, where we share new videos every day, including in-depth documentaries and reports on geopolitics, economy, society, culture, science and the environment 🌎. Want more? 👉 Visit our streaming platform in English: ARTE.tv in English https://www.arte.tv/en/ For reports on culture, visit ARTE.tv Culture, where we explore art 🖼️ from every angle. Here you’ll find web series’💻, exclusive interviews 🎙️, festival highlights 🎶, the best of European cinema 🎞️ and long-form culture documentaries 🎥: https://www.youtube.com/@artetvculture/ Don't forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a video / @artetvdocumentary Keep up to date with us on the go via social media 🤳 🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/ARTEen 👥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARTEenglish/ And subscribe to our newsletter 🗞️here: https://www.arte.tv/en/articles/newsletter #artetvdocumentary #arteweekly #politicalfirewall